Dutch authorities have ordered a leading European manufacturer of cargo bikes to suspend sales and recall thousands of its products amid safety concerns over frame breakages.
The Dutch regulator for food and consumer product safety (NVWA) called a temporary halt to trading by Babboe, which makes family cargo bikes seen daily on school runs from Berlin to Bristol, “because their safety cannot be sufficiently guaranteed”.
The NVWA demanded the Dutch company, which describes its product as “the worldwide number one cargo bike”, recall two models and issue public safety warnings over several others. The mass recall in the Netherlands is understood to affect about 10,000 cargo bikes.
“The cargo bikes can be sold again when it has been sufficiently demonstrated that they are safe, among other things by means of full technical documentation,” said the NVWA on its website.
Industry insiders said there could be a subsequent mass recall across Europe. Babboe sells to about 30 countries across the world, including France, Germany and the UK.
In a press release the NVWA accused Babboe of not properly investigating many complaints. It said it had been examining the Dutch manufacturer’s bikes since the end of 2023 due to evidence of frame fractures.
The manufacturer has already “received numerous reports of frame breakages” and did not appear to have followed up on these reports, NVWA said. The Dutch public prosecutor’s office is establishing whether there is basis for a criminal investigation, it added.
Repeated calls and email requests to the company for comment went unanswered on Tuesday.
The German Cyclists’ Association put out a warning to its members to not use the bikes, saying they posed a “life-threatening risk” in particular when used in road traffic.
The news came as a shock to many Babboe owners, who said they would struggle to find alternatives in a hurry.
“I leave home every weekday at 7.00, taking one child to nursery, the other to school before going on to work with my dog,” said Sandra, a 39-year-old lawyer in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district, who declined to give her family name.
“I’m utterly dependent on the Babboe, which is a far better alternative – convenient, cheaper, helps keep me fit – than public transport or a car. I was inclined to keep using the bike when I heard the news, but I would never forgive myself if anything happened.”
She said she had contacted the shop where she bought the bike, which advised her not to use it until further notice. She was using a taxi to cover her transport needs in the meantime. “But it’s €40-50 a day, so not very satisfactory,” Sandra said.
Birkway, a law firm that has set up a website to enable Babboe owners to register as potential claimants in any eventual legal action, said: “For many families, the Babboe cargo bike is an important means of transportation. The children ride them to school and the sports club every day. The uncertainty about the safety of the bikes now hangs over these families like a sword of Damocles.”
A statement on Babboe’s website said the NVWA had informed the company on 14 February that it had “not provided enough information to prove that certain models are free from safety risks”.
It added: “The sale of these models must for this reason be put on hold. As a precaution, Babboe has decided to temporarily stop the sales of all Babboe cargo bikes.”
The company said it sincerely apologised for the inconvenience and it was working closely with the NVWA “to ensure that the requested information is provided as quickly as possible, so that sales can be resumed”. Until then it urged customers to “follow the NVWA’s advice to not use Babboe cargo bikes”.
The NVWA said that as “no reports of frame defects have been reported for the other types of bicycle”, other Babboe bikes would not be subject to a recall or safety warning.
In a video message, the company’s director, Gerard Feenema, said owners would receive replacements and “compensation for the inconvenience”.
In 2022, in Germany alone, 210,000, or every 20th bike sold, was a cargo bike. Annual growth in sales of 40-60% have been reported across Europe in recent years, especially of e-cargo bikes, despite their hefty price tag of €3,000-€10,000. The bikes have been heavily subsidised by several European governments, including Germany’s.
According to the NVWA’s website, the Babboe models facing a recall are the Babboe Mini and the Babboe City, in both manual and electric form. Details of the models subject to a public safety warning are on its website.
